but I know that if I say anything,

even with a lot of reasons behind it,

there's going to be a lot of pushback.

You know, "How dare you tell me to do anything?"

"You're not the Atheist Pope!" Okay, fine.

But then let me just lay out for you some reasons why I,

as an atheist who cares about issues related to atheism,

cannot possibly vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming election,

despite what some other youtubers may tell you to do.

I care about science.

I don't want someone in the White House who denies climate change

or thinks it's a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.

I don't want a vice president who denied climate change for so long.

I don't want a vice president who still doesn't accept evolution.

I don't want a president who couldn't even explain evolution.

I don't want a president who believes this conspiracy that vaccines cause autism,

because there's no support for that whatsoever,

and I don't want someone

who gave $10,000 from his

personal foundation

to Jenny McCarthy's anti-vaccination group.

I care about church-state separation.

I don't want a president who thinks the Religious Right is persecuted,

you know, as if Christians are the ones who really have it tough in the United States.

I don't want a president who threatens to repeal the Johnson Amendment,

which prevents pastors from endorsing candidates from the pulpit

without losing their tax-exemption.

I don't want a president who

seems to think all Muslims

might be in cahoots with the terrorists

and wants to take away their civil liberties as a result.

I don't want a president who thinks

forcing employees to say "Merry Christmas", instead of "Happy Holidays",

will solve more problems than it creates.

I don't want someone who thinks there really is some war on Christmas.

I don't want a president

whose proposed Supreme Court nominees

are hell-bent on merging Christianity

with the government.

As an atheist,

I care about LGBT issues

because they are directly threatened by conservative Christians.

And Trump wants to put those Christians in positions of power

so they can undo all the progress we've made over the past decade.

I don't want someone who

still, in 2016, opposes marriage equality,

and Trump does, no matter how much he thinks he's a friend to the gay community.

I don't want a president to tell transgender people where they can and can't go to the bathroom.

I don't want a vice president who tells Christian business owners

they have a special right to discriminate against gay customers,

which is exactly what he did in Indiana.

Or a president who thinks Kim Davis

had every right to deny gay couples their marriage licenses

in her Kentucky County.

I care about women's rights since it's usually conservative Christians who opposed them.

And I don't want a president who thinks women who have abortions deserve to be punished.

I don't want a president who wants to defund Planned Parenthood

just because they provide abortion services in addition to all the other amazing things that they also do.

I don't want a president

who can't tell fact from fiction and seems to believe anything someone tells him on Twitter.

If I wanted to hear people whose best evidence for their beliefs was,

"Well, some people have said..."

then I'd go to church".

Now, maybe you're hearing all this and you're just rolling your eyes.

You know, you're thinking,

"Okay, Trump is bad, but you're not giving me any reasons to vote

for Hillary Clinton."

Here it is:

She's not perfect,

but she's on the right side of every single one of those issues I just mentioned.

That's why she's getting my vote and that's why I'm going to be proud as hell to cast it.

And if you feel differently,

then, by all means, I can't wait to read your comments below,

all about why science, and church-state separation, and LGBT rights, and women's rights

don't matter to you.

Donald Trump is a man with no ideas

who surrounds himself with people who have bad ideas.

He would be a disaster

for anyone who cares about evidence and reason,

and is worried about the encroachment of religion into our politics.

And if you believe he's just playing the part

and he doesn't really believe any of these things that he's saying,

well just take a look at who he's surrounding himself with.

I mean, the people pulling the puppet strings

are conservative Christians.

I don't know how you could look at the two major party candidates

and then say,

"Nah, they're both basically the same".

They're not.

Anyone who tells you that is just ignorant.

I know it sounds smart when you say, "Both major parties are equally bad,

but in their own ways". You know, it makes it sound like you're above it all.

You're not.

And by the way, I'm not saying Democrats are perfect on all of these issues.

Just to name one example,

President Obama still allows religious organizations to receive taxpayer money

to perform certain services

while discriminating in their hiring.

That's not okay either, and Hillary Clinton has not said she would put a stop to that.

But, by and large,

one candidate is clearly better

on the issues that matter to me as an atheist.

Now, there are plenty of other issues

you should also consider when you're thinking about who to vote for.

These are not the only ones that matter.

Those other issues I mentioned

are no less important than the ones I just mentioned.

This is just a starting point.

And for those of you who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate,

like Gary Johnson, or Dr. Jill Stein,

I'll just say this:

I don't think either one of them is qualified to be president.

Gary Johnson doesn't seem to know anything about the world beyond the United States,

and Jill Stein doesn't seem to know anything about governance,

or science, which

is a little weird considering she's a doctor.

But if you live in a state where this election is still up for grabs,

I don't know how your supposedly principal vote is going to help anybody

when Donald Trump wins all the electoral votes in your state.

Your protest vote is adorable.

I mean, I'm glad your life is so great

that your life won't be affected if Donald Trump gets into the White House.

But please,

go talk to somebody who lived in Florida in the year 2000 and voted for Ralph Nader, instead of Al Gore.

Go see how proud they are of that vote now, after 8 years of George W. Bush,

when they had the opportunity to make a difference.

It's cliché,

but don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good here.

There is way too much at stake here,

especially if you're an atheist who fights against religion in politics.

There are so many good people out there,

including, I'm guessing, many of you watching this video,

who stand to lose so much

if Donald Trump wins the election.

Please do your part to prevent that from happening.

And then, share this video and get your friends to do the same thing.

My name is Hemant Mehta and I write at FriendlyAtheist.com

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